Wednesday 10-24-12

TSA Pulls Use Of Controversial Full Body Scanners At JFK, LaGuardia Airports
Agency: Machines Are Safe, But Move Will Help Speed Up Security Lines

The controversial full body airport scanners are being removed from LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International, the Transportation Security Administration announced Sunday.

The Backscatter machines were first used at JFK exactly two years ago amid a flurry of controversy.

Opponents said the very detailed image of the human body provided by the machines is an invasion of privacy, while others argued the level of radiation emitted by the Backscatters could be dangerous over the long term.

The TSA said its decision to pull the machines is in an effort to speed up security lines at the two New York City airports, and insists the full body scanners are safe.

Some passengers at LaGuardia said they did not mind the use of the Backscatter body scanner machines.

“It didn’t bother me personally. Again, if I want to be a safe on a plane, if that’s what they need to do to get us on there and have us arrive safely, it’s fine by me,” one woman told WCBS 880′s Peter Haskell.

“Just feel real confident. Once I go through there, I know everything’s been checked out,” another air traveler told Haskell.

Each Backscatter machine costs $160,000, Haskell reported.

“If they can keep the same level of security then I have no issue with it, but they have to get an alternative to make sure that the passengers and the airlines are secure,” another traveler told Haskell.

Officials said currently there are nearly 250 full body scanners at 37 airports nationwide.

Newark Liberty International Airport uses a completely different machine called a millimeter wave machine, which is considered to be a safer technology.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/10/22/tsa-pulls-use-of-controversial-full-body-scanners-at-jfk-laguardia-airports/


What your brain is doing while you nap
Like to take naps? There's new research suggesting what brains are up to while their owners are snoozing.
The right side of the brain goes into overdrive while napping compared to its neighboring left hemisphere.
The team of neuroscientists at Georgetown University Medical Center who made these findings speculate the brain is doing helpful housekeeping working to consolidate memories or classify data. Or they say, maybe the right brain is just daydreaming.
Studies monitoring brain activity show the brain's right side, which is associated with creativity, talks to itself while people nap. It also communicates with the left side, which is associated with logic, language and critical thinking. The left side of brain also talks to itself and its neighbor, but not nearly as much as the right side.
The brain side busyness is universal according to the study author who says the findings were not influenced by whether a person is left- or right-handed.
What the researchers don't know yet is whether one brain side being busier might benefit lefties more than right handed people.
The study was done by monitoring 15 volunteers while they slept. The research has been presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.

http://wtop.com/884/3088370/The-Power-of-Napping